Sakuraba has written far too much music for one lifetime. And it's starting to spread too thin even for me. It's come to the point where I actually dread listening to the next Sakuraba album, for fear that it's just more of the same, but even further watered down.

Then, a glimmer of hope! The first five or six tracks on disc one were all good. I became surprisingly optimistic about this soundtrack for the DS Valkyrie Profile RPG. And when I was lifted higher, the fall was that much greater. Ouch.

I've said this before with Sakuraba soundtracks, but I'll say it again. It's not that the music is bad. If this is the first Sakuraba soundtrack you'd ever heard, you might be like "wow, this is cool! Jazz/rock fusion to the max!" ...and then you hear it like 50 more times across other soundtracks, and you wonder "does this guy have any other styles?" He does, but he rarely pulls them out of his sleeve.

As a matter of fact, my favorite tracks from this OST are the songs that he's used over and over again. "Confidence in the domination" and "Mission to the deep space" have been used across a variety of tri-Ace titles, and they're always good. This time, they're exceptional, and they overshadow the new, original tracks for Covenant of the Plume.

The next fast-paced 6/8 battle theme using drum, bass, guitar, and organ I hear, I'm going to throw out that Sakuraba album on the spot. Just a fair warning, Motoi! Please put more effort and thought into your craft...also, proofread your tracklists before sending them out. "ise above the world" is probably meant to be "Rise above the world."